The future of Arsenal Football Club still hangs in the balance today. We’re still waiting on Usmanov’s next move and it’s slightly ironic that it’s his action now that will have the biggest impact on the club’s future. Kroenke has been forced to make an offer for all remaining shares, Usmanov could sell up and walk away with a profit or choose not to sell and most probably not ever move off that 27% mark. If he sells, Arsenal belongs to Kroenke, if he doesn’t then not a great deal has changed apart from the small matter of a few hundred of million pounds.

I was shocked last night to log onto Twitter and see the strange and sudden warming to Usmanov that was going on. Somehow Kroenke was suddenly the bad guy and Jabba the Hutt was going to be the saviour. It was quite bizarre, I don’t get how he can be genuinely getting positive spin off this. I saw some rubbish about him planning to give shares back to fans or something but I feel like I’m being a bit gullible to believe that.

There was an Arsenal Supporters’ Trust meeting last night and there they agreed that they will not be selling up to Kroenke and instead campaigning for supporter ownership. Now for that to happen we basically need Usmanov to not sell because then it would all be over. So I think this is where he has become the good guy, people need him to keep his 27% to stop a complete takeover. But then at the same time you’ve also got Kroenke saying that he doesn’t plan to take Arsenal off the stock market and he believes in the importance of small shareholder fans. There just seems to me to be too much going on, too many conflicting ideas and too many promises set up to be broken.

I can’t decide what is best for us. Kroenke sounds like a reasonable guy and if anyone has to take us over then I guess I’d want it to be him but then I think that for Arsenal to be owned by a single owner doesn’t seem right. I feel like we’re far too important for that and once in control he has far too much power over something so precious. At the end of the day there’s not much I can do about the whole situation and in times like this in life I tend to just sit back and just let what happens happen. I don’t know what you think about that but it’s just my way of thinking, there’s no point in getting upset about something you can’t control I think. I guess I could start up or join in a campaign for or against Kroenke but I can’t decide what I want right now so I’m just going to sit on the fence and watch the world go by and wait on Red & White’s next move.

There is evidence to support the theory that Usmanov won’t sell up. Upon hearing of Kroenke’s offer for Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith’s 16% the Uzbekistani offered an improved price for the stake. Stan offered £11,750 a share whereas the improved offer was £13,000 a share adding up to just under £130m for her stake. It’s a considerable offer but Lady Nina said she did not want to go back on her agreement with Stan and will be selling to him. So it does look as if Usmanov isn’t giving up just yet. We’ll see what happens in the coming days, weeks or months but at the moment no one knows what’s going to happen.

Lets move on to matters on the pitch, after all that’s what matters most in the long run; Jack Wilshere reckons Man United’s involvement in Europe will eventually effect their Premier League form. He says that we have the advantage by having a week’s rest between games. This is true, however United could be out of Europe tonight if Chelsea play well at Old Trafford. It’s the second leg of their quarter final tonight, Man Utd are 1-0 up going into that but it’s not unthinkable that Chelsea can turn that around. If they do then the league leaders will be in the same position as us with a week’s rest between games and this weekend they’re playing in the FA Cup anyway so fatigue from tonight will have no effect on their league form. Plus, next week we have a midweek game against Spurs so we will be the ones without a full week’s recovery.

That’s why I’ve been hoping United progress in Europe, the only way it’s going to effect the Premier League is if they get into the semi finals. And which game falls between the two semi final legs? The one against us. So that will be an advantage knowing we’ll be more prepared for the game plus it could effect their other matches – they might be tempted to rest players against Everton the weekend before the first leg and they play Chelsea the weekend after the second leg so that might have a knock on effect there too. You’ve got to take what you can get in the season run in, that’s why I’m cheering on United tonight in the hope that Europe and the league gets too much to handle.

There’s also this story about an argument between van Persie and Diaby at half time in Blackpool this weekend. I’ve never got this term ‘blast’. “So and so BLASTS another guy!” Don’t really get it, sounds a bit stupid I think. All I can imagine is van Persie with a Super Soaker in the dressing room at half time with a very wet Diaby. Anyway yeah apparently Robin was reminding Diaby about his costly red card at St. James’ Park and having a go at him for picking up a silly yellow just before half time on Sunday. If true, then I guess it’s good to see that the players are passionate about these games and know the importance of them. Diaby said he would learn from his sending off against Newcastle, it changed the game resulting in disastrous circumstances so you can understand RVP’s frustration. But then again, it could all be made up bollocks.

Okay regular readers will know I’ve been running a competition this week to win a retro shirt from Toffs. The competition ended at midnight last night and the answer to the question: What year is the earliest Arsenal shirt from that Toffs currently offer on their online store? was A. 1913 not B. 1927 as many people put, you need to look closer I’m afraid! There were quite a few people who got it right though and I’m going to now open a new tab and select a winner at random… LIVE. Oh how exciting.

And the winner is… James Warrener. Well done James, I will be in touch about choosing your shirt and getting that to you as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone for entering, I’ll try and get another competition up and running soon. I’ll also see if I can get a discount code for you guys on the Toffs store, until then though all the shirts are still available to buy if you really had your heart set on winning one you can check them out by clicking on the banner below.

That’s it for today then. It’s going to be weird cheering on Man United tonight but at the end of the day I fucking hate John Terry. So it’s acceptable.

Thanks for reading, speak to you soon.

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Just few comments on the business sites.. Korenke has already acquired 63% and the two shareholders who sold their stake would have been locked in agreement before all this came out in press. Usamonov is playing around with supporters emotion by being this goodie. But you have to ask yourself a question, why he kept quiet before it came down this point. Proior this buyout he was in a similar position as Korenke. The second thing you need to conside is that now who controls the club but what his intention is. From Korenke’s track record you could tell the only thing he would looking for winning. Usamonov would be looking for getting a good return on his initial capital. That’s why he invested at first place. I am
in doubt that he well sell out and make a handsom profit. This is only because Korenke is obliged to buy at the moment as part of this foreced takeover. If Usamonov doesn’t sell that he wouldnt gain anything for a while. One word about russian billionaires that they havent acquired their wealth due to hard work, smart work or inheretence. It is all due to corruption that helps them control such big oil companies. Enough said.

So Russians billionaires havent acquired their wealth by hard-work but from corruption. I wonder where you have got this fact from as am sure you haven’t met, worked for or even seen any Russian Billionaire. How you guys try to get away from turning conjectures to facts beats me. Some Russians are corrupt, but then again so are some Americans, and hey some British/English as well. So shut you trap if you ain’t got much to say